4 Common Reasons your Foundation is Settling
Have you found cracks in the foundation of your home? Do some of your doors or windows stick or your floors slope? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it could be that your house’s foundation has settled. Foundation settlement can be caused by many different things, but here are the four most common reason your foundation is settling.
- Ground Freeze and Thaw
Also known as frost heave, the ground’s natural freeze and thaw with the seasons is a major contributor to foundation settlement. In fact, it is such a common problem that building codes in many areas require at least 30 inches for a building’s footing depth because the top layer of soil has gone through so many cycles of freezing and thawing it is not compacted enough.
- Poor Soil Quality
Many areas have soil that is less-than-ideal for building. Of course, that doesn’t stop people from building. The soil, called expansive clay, expands and shrinks as its moisture content changes. During dry months, the soil shrinks away from a house’s foundation, leaving it exposed and weakened. During months with more rain and snow, the soil expands back to its original content. This change in soil around the foundation of a home causes cracks that open and close, and doors and windows that stick during certain season.
- Varying Foundation Depths
When a foundation is built with supports in different soil depths, it can settle unevenly. This happens most often when a shallow foundation is near a basement foundation on sloping properties.
- Water Leaks
Typically in older homes, water leaking along broken or cracked waste pipes or underground downspout piping causes the foundation to settle.
Foundation Repair with Davis & Sons Concrete
When the foundation on your home becomes compromised by any of the reasons listed above, we can repair the problem using either the Atlas Piering System or the Helical Pile Foundation System. Both of these techniques stop your home’s foundation from sinking and reverse structural damage immediately. You can rest assured that your home’s foundation will be stable for years to come.
If your home’s foundation is settling, give us a call. Our expert contractors are on hand to help protect your investment.
